Syco

Infobox record label
name = Syco


image_bg =
parent = Sony Music Entertainment
founded = 2002
founder = Simon Cowell
status =
distributor = ITV
genre = Pop music
country = United Kingdom
location =
url =

Syco is a company founded by record executive and music producer Simon Cowell in 2002. It has three departments, Syco TV, Syco Music and Syco Film. Syco TV and Syco Music have had a number of highly successful projects, documented below.

Cowell claims Syco accounted for approximately 40% of Sony Music Entertainment profit in 2006, despite only employing 14 people. [White, Dominic. [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2006/12/21/cnmusic21.xml 'What you've got to do is win and have hits. You never lose by having hits'] , "The Daily Telegraph", 21 December, 2006]

yco Music

Simon Cowell works with winners of "The X Factor" in the United Kingdom as well as "Britain's Got Talent".

Shayne Ward, Leona Lewis, Leon Jackson, Rhydian Roberts, Emma Tran and Same Difference were all on "The X Factor". Paul Potts, Escala and Andrew Johnston were contestants on "Britain's Got Talent". It's also signed their independent artist Mariella Clark

Highlights for the label include the #1 US albums from Il Divo and Leona Lewis as well as the Hot 100 #1 by Lewis [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24164834/] . In the first week of December 2007, Syco occupied the top 3 album positions on the UK Album Chart as well as the #1 single and #1 and #3 DVDs. [ [http://www.sonybmgmusic.co.uk/company_news/7749/ Syco music tops UK charts] sonybmgmusic.co.uk 3 December 2007]

Popera

Its biggest success has been Il Divo, who opened the floodgates to many more "popera" acts and whose fourth album sold 3.7 m copies. [ [http://www.unitedworldchart.de/ United World Chart] ] They also spawned a child version in the UK. Angelis released their debut album in 2006, which went platinum. In 2007, Syco signed another popera star, Paul Potts, winner of "Britain's Got Talent". After spending 3 weeks at number one in the UK, he set off abroad, scoring additional number ones in Australia, New Zealand, Norway and Sweden. Potts' album made it into the top 40 sellers of 2007 and has sold over 1.5 m copies to date. [ [http://www.mediatraffic.de/year-end-albums.htm United World Chart, end-of-year album sales] 2007]

"The X Factor"

Syco Music automatically signs the winner of "The X Factor" and Sony BMG has first choice on all contestants who made it to the live shows. The winner of series one Steve Brookstein released an album in May 2005, "Heart and Soul" which entered the UK album chart at number one. However, it was a covers album and sold few copies. After selling only 100,000 copies, he was dropped. Meanwhile, runners up G4 signed to the main division of Sony BMG and sold 600,000 copies of their debut album.

The second series of "X Factor" produced a winner in Shayne Ward. Touted as the UK answer to Justin Timberlake, he combined a great voice with good looks. Unfortunately, his first album was critically panned, filled with covers and generally poor pop songs. It still managed to sell close to 500,000 copies. His second album was released in November 2007 and with his latest single, he has defied cynics in charting at number two, narrowly missing out on the top spot. Journey South were also signed and released one album with Syco, selling over 400,000 copies.

"The X Factor" 3 winner, Leona Lewis released the fastest selling number one of the year, "Bleeding Love", [ [http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/bizarre/article379389.ece Leona's song on the fast track] , "The Sun", October 24, 2007] trouncing Take That, McFly and Britney Spears in the chart battle. Her album became the fastest selling debut in UK chart history when it sold 375,000 copies in its first week, outselling the Spice Girls by 5 to 1. "Spirit", executive produced by Simon Cowell and Clive Davis, topped the Billboard 200 album chart and the United World Chart in 2008 and has now sold approximately 4 million copies worldwide.

Leon Jackson is the latest winner of "The X Factor", and after the success of the time taken to produce Leona Lewis' album, Cowell is hoping to do the same with Jackson. Rhydian Roberts has also joined Syco's stable of popera artists with an album due in the autumn. Same Difference have signed a deal for an album too.

yco TV

Syco's first project was "The X Factor" for ITV. The show has been hugely successful for ITV, bringing huge numbers of young viewers to the channel and thus becoming its third biggest show behind "Coronation Street" and "Emmerdale". It is now in its fifth series, drawing the highest ratings ever for its auditions shows and is contracted for at least one more year. In 2007, Carphone Warehouse signed a £7 million a year deal to sponsor the show. [Sweney, Mark. [http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/jun/19/broadcasting.realitytv Carphone Warehouse gets The X Factor] , "The Guardian", June 19, 2007]

In 2006, Syco produced 3 brand new shows in the United Sates. "American Inventor" started in March on ABC. Although it drew high ratings in its first week, they dipped over the season. However, it performed well enough to be commissioned for its second series in 2007. The show is co-produced by FremantleMedia and Peter Jones Television.

In summer 2006, NBC broadcast "America's Got Talent". This new breed of talent show has been the number one summer show in 2006 and 2007. In June 2007, Syco inked a £100 million deal to sell format rights around the world. [ [http://www.hellomagazine.com/celebrities/2007/05/17/simon-cowell/ Simon Cowell doubles fortune with £100 million TV deal] , "Hello Magazine", May 17, 2007] In fall 2006, "Celebrity Duets" hit air on Fox. Despite a decent start and building its ratings early on, it stumbled against "Greys Anatomy" and "CSI" and did not return in 2007.

2007 saw Syco return to the UK. It produced "Grease is The Word" for ITV. However, its ratings were disappointing with even Cowell himself criticising the show. The next week, Syco made up for this flop when "Britain's Got Talent" hit ITV. It became a phenomenon drawing ratings in excess of 11 million viewers in June, when viewing is usually lower. In the UK, Syco also produced one off specials, "She's the One" with Westlife and "Take That: For the Record" as well as "Paul Potts: By Royal Command" and "The World's Got Talent". Syco is also developing a new major entertainment project for ITV1. [http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/feb/27/itv.television?gusrc=rss&feed=media ITV1 considers Gladiators-style show] guardian.co.uk 27 February 2008] In November 2007, it was announced that Australian Network, Nine, have acquired the rights to the show. [Brookes, Emily. [http://www.c21media.net/resources/detail.asp?area=74&article=38469 Cowell drama format heads down under] , "C21Media", November 7, 2007. Accessed March 19, 2008] In January 2008, only weeks before transmission, Simon Cowell announced that his company would not be involved due to sensationalist plots.

In the top 10 most viewed shows on UK TV in 2007, only 3 shows were produced by independent production companies. Two of these were Syco shows in association with talkbackTHAMES. "The X Factor" was the most watched entertainment show of the year.

2008 has seen Syco continue to build on its established brands. It's success was underlined in the last week of May when "Britain's Got Talent" hit the semi-final stages. The live shows, broadcast over 6 consecutive nights, filled the top 5 slots in the weekly ratings and with an average of 13.1 m and a peak of over 14 m for the finale, "Britain's Got Talent" became the most successful talent show of the 21st Century.Fact|date=July 2008

The summer brought more good news for Syco TV. America's Got Talent is currently the most watched non-sport broadcast on NBC this television season, despite being shown in the summer. It is the #1 show of the summer for the third year running. [http://tv.zap2it.com/tveditorial/tve_main/1,1002,272%7C%7C%7Cseason,00.html] The show was extended this year and the producers were given more control over the format. Cowell claims the latter is responsible for the ratings increase. [http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_tv_tvblog/2008/08/simon-cowell--1.html]

In August, The X Factor returned with hugely impressive ratings for its first episode as more than 10 million viewers tuned in, well above expectations. [http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/aug/26/tvratings.television2] The show has once again seen some changes, as Sharon Osbourne leaves the panel to be replaced by Girls Aloud star, Cheryl Cole while Fearne Cotton departs as presenter of Xtra Factor to be replaced by Holly Willoughby.

Meanwhile, Syco is continuing to look at bringing new shows to air. It has reportedly bought a share in the rights to 90's hit, Blind Date. Rumoured hosts include Davina McCall and, after impressing on Xtra Factor, Holly Willoughby. [http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/article1530322.ece]

taff

*VP, Operations and International - Simon Jones
*Managing Director, Syco Music - Sonny Takhar
*Director of Television, Syco TV - Nigel Hall
*Marketing Manager - Dan Parker
*Head of Media - Anne-Marie Thomson
*Project Co-Ordinator - Laurence Boakes
*Creative Director - Tim Byrne
*A&R Manager - Nikki Watkins
*Executive Producer - Siobhan Greene
*Executive Producer - Georgie Hurford-Jones
*General Assistant - Anya Jones

References

External links

* [http://www.imdb.com/company/co0164569/ Syco Tv] at IMDb